"Swab her out." She is swabbed out. planted in the rear of the train, and began "Now, heave and haul, and in it goes." It firing shells up the road, over the wagons, goes in accordingly. "Now, ram it down." at the longest range, and with a good eleIt is rammed down. "Now, run her in." vation. A few of those "rotten cannon She is run in. "Screw down the recoil- balls" bursting over the train roused the bands." They are screwed down. Gun- laggards and fixed the business. Believner aims. "Slew her round a little." ing that the rebels were thus close-very 'All right!" "Where's that primer?" close upon them, the wagon-masters and "Now, git out of the way, everybody." teamsters applied whip and spur, and the All go to windward, and No. 3 steps round whole caravan was moved off safely. a corner, so as not to be hit if the gun bursts. Gunner says, "Blaze away!" She blazes away. Remark of the gunner on returning to the gun: "HOW ARE YOU SUMTER?" Repeat. Buford's Method of Spurring up Teamsters. While Meade's army was on its retrograde movement, an incident occurred which showed that General Buford was as fertile in expedients as he was brave in an Bridge Across Platte Creek History of a Sword. Major William Stubbs captured a sword at the battle of Shiloh, which has a history which pertains to few weapons of its kind, or indeed to any other. It had been presented to him by his fellow-conductors on the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, and bore an appropriate inscription of respect from the donors to the Major. When captured it fell into the hands of a Con federate Lieutenant-Colonel, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Corinth by a private of the Tenth Missouri regiment. The private, however, having no use for the article, gave it to his Lieutenant. After the fall of Vicksburg the original owner of the sword was exchanged, and the Missouri private, reading a list in a Chicago paper, saw the name of the officer, which emergency. While bringing up the rear, was the same as that inscribed upon the with the rebels not far behind him, he sword. He thereupon wrote to the Major, came up with a train of wagons several who answered in person, and the sword miles long, numbering, in all, some eight was returned. It had passed through hundred. The train was stopped, and three campaigns, sometimes wielded for Buford could find no one in command to and sometimes against the Union. start it. No time was to be lost. The enemy were coming-coming! and Buford's command would be cut up and the train captured. The teamsters in that long line could not be made to comprehend and act. But General Buford, in a few seconds, both comprehended and acted. He ordered one of his rifled pieces to be Soldier Mechanics. Captain Arnold, of company E, Rhode Island Fourth regiment, was one day ordered to take possession of the cross-roads at Havelock station. Near this place he came upon a large and valuable property, in the shape of a corn and flour mill, com Could not Wait for Death. bined with a saw-mill, belonging to Dr. | mechanism, from the soldier-boys of the Master, of Newbern. He found the place victorious army. deserted, and the machinery purposely thrown out of gear to prevent its use by the Yankees. The turbine wheel had At the general hospital in Washington, wedges and clogs placed in it, so that it says Prof. Hackett, a soldier from Pennwould be both difficult and dangerous to sylvania, who had been severely wounded attempt to start the mill. Being a practi--so much so as to be beyond recoverycal mechanic, and withal possessing some was lying on the floor. When the examexperience in the management of mills, ining surgeon of the hospital came along Inflating the Pontoon. and looked at the condition of the sufferer, expressing his hopeless belief as to the recovery of the man, to his assistant, he raised his head and said: "Doctor, will I recover? is there any hope for me?-for, if not, I want you to kill me." The surgeon tried to calm him, and he appeared to drop into a doze. In a few moments he took a revolver from his "I do not want to linger in pain without a hope." Captain Arnold immediately discovered pocket, placed it resting against his tem"what was the matter with the mill." He ple, and fired; being so feeble he could not accordingly first drew down the pond, came hold it firmly, and the ball just glanced to the seat of the difficulty, repaired dam- over the skin without starting blood, but ages, and in a few hours the mill was jog- the discharge blackened his face. The ging along as good as new, doing capital pistol was immediately taken from him, service in the cause of the Union by grind- when he said-though then only half an ing corn-meal for the use of the troops. hour before he was a corpse,— After it had been restored, a person, claiming to be an agent of the Doctor, made his appearance, when, everything being made satisfactory, the premises were gracefully turned over to him without any charges for repairs. It was the easiest thing in the world, for Union soldiers from the North and West to improvise machinery of all sorts, repair locomotives, build bridges, dig canals, throw up dams, and, as to pontoons, Prof. Airy himself might have taken lessons in the philosophy of that kind of Four-legged Messenger proving Disloyal. A Federal officer "who came up from City Point, Virginia, one October's day, to Washington, was observed to have with him an ugly-looking specimen of the genus canine, which he guarded very carefully. The dog, it appears, was a great pet with both the Union and Confederate pickets in front of Hancock's corps. The animal had been trained to carry messages from time | nition might have been sent for some of to time between the pickets. A southern the field-pieces he had placed in the breastpaper would be placed in his mouth, and works. "From the arsenal," said the he would scamper off to the Union lines, driver. "Oh, very well," said Birney, "I'll take charge of it." This was ammunition sent from the city to the rebels; but ms Birney and some of his troops, unknown to the driver of the ammunition wagon, occupied Battery No. 9. The General duly appreciated such a timely addition to his supplies. It was the right battery but the wrong General. Four-legged Messenger proving Disloyal. Customer for Grant's Biography. Rather an amusing incident concerning General Grant is related as having occurred while he was on a journey in a railroad train, and where he displayed, as usual, none of the insignia of his military rank. A youthful book peddler traversed the cars, crying, "Life of General Grant." A mischief-loving aid pointed the youngster to the General's seat, suggesting to him that "that man might like a copy." General Grant turned over the pages of the book, and casually asked, "Who is it this is all about?" The boy, giving him a most incredulous grimace of indignation deliver up the paper, and then return with a northern paper. He would at other times be intrusted with packages of coffee and tobacco, which he always delivered promptly and safely. The secessionists, however, after a while undertook to make use of him for transmitting information and disgust, replied, "You must be a from one portion of their lines to another, and the four-legged messenger having been caught with one of these contraband messages, he had to suffer the penalty of such disloyalty by being confiscated and brought North. Ammunition Sent by the Enemy Just in darned greeny not to know General Grant!" After this volley the Lieutenant-General of course surrendered, and bought his biography. Consul and General matched against each other in Savannah. The scene which took place between General Sherman and the British Consul Late one night, after the redoubts had at Savannah was one of the richest and been captured, an ammunition wagon, most piquant during that general's eventdrawn by six mules, was driven up from ful peregrinations. On his arrival in that the direction of Petersburg, to a particular city, the General saw a large number of point in the chain of fortifications. Gen- British flags displayed from buildings, and eral Birney, surprised to see it coming from his curiosity was naturally excited to know that direction, asked the driver at once how many "British Consuls" there were what he had in the wagon? The answer in that important city! He soon ascerwas, "Ammunition for Battery No. 9." tained that these flags were on buildings "Where did it come from?" inquired the where cotton had been stored away, and General, supposing that additional ammu- he at once ordered it to be seized. Soon after that, while the General was busy at and throw that cursed sand-hill into the his head-quarters, a pompous gentleman sea, sir. You may tell your government walked in, apparently in great haste, and that, sir. I would shovel it to the sea, inquired if he was General Sherman? sir; and then I would pay for it, sir,—if Having received an affirmative reply, the necessary. Good day, sir." pompous gentleman remarked: "Well, sir, when I left my residence, United States troops were engaged in removing my cotton from it, notwithstanding its protection by the British flag." "Stop, sir!" said General Sherman; "not your cotton, but my cotton; my cotton, in the name of the United States government, sir. I have noticed a great many British flags here, all protecting cotton; I have seized it all in the name of my government." "But, sir," said the Consul, indignantly, "there is scarcely any cotton in Savannah that does not belong to me." It is needless to say that General Sherman was not again troubled with the official representative of her Majesty's government,-whose mind became confused in the crash of such nouns-substantive as cotton, arms, picks, shovels, sand-hills and the like. Shultz's Timely Discovery An honest Schuylkill county German merchant, who had been prospered comewhat beyond the average, and had accumulated more money than he could employ as capital in his business, went to a patriotic banker in Philadelphia, and said: "I have got some moneys, and I want you to buy me some gold." "Why, Shultz! what do you want gold "There is not a pound of cotton here, sir, that does not belong to me, for the United States," responded Sherman. "Well, sir," said the Consul, swelling for? That isn't a thing you sell in your himself up with the dignity of his office store." and reddening in his face, "my government shall hear of this. I shall report your conduct to my government, sir." "Ah! pray, who are you, sir?" said the general. "Consul to her British Majesty, sir." "Oh! indeed!" responded the General. "I hope you will report me to your government. You will please say to your government, for me, that I have been fighting the English government all the way from the Ohio river to Vicksburg, and thence to this point. At every step I have encountered British arms, British munitions of war, and British goods of all descriptions-yes, at every step, sir. I have met them in all shapes, sir; and now, sir, I find you claiming all the cotton sir. I intend to call upon my government to order me to Nassau at once." "What do you propose to do there," asked the Consul, somewhat taken aback. "I would," replied the General," take with me a quantity of picks and shovels, "I knows that; but I want to make some money on de rise of gold. Beoples say it is going up, and I tink I may make a tousand dollars." 66 Shultz, you dear old fellow, don't you know that if you buy gold you will be a rebel?" "N-o!" said Shultz, with a tone of resentment in his wonder. "Suppose you buy ten thousand dollars of gold; suppose that same morning you read in the papers, in big letters—“Terrible disaster to the Union cause! Grant's army routed and destroyed!! The rebels marching on Washington!!!"" "I should say dat was tam pad news," excitedly interrupted the German. "Yes, but wouldn't you say right off, 'dis, however, will put gold up-pad for the Union cause, tam pad, but it is goot for my ten thousand!' Don't you see Shultz, that in buying gold you instantly make the interests of the rebels your interests-that you bribe yourself to wish them to succeed, and to wish your country and your countrymen to fail? And if these unholy desires, Shultz, don't define you a rebel, there is no language to define one. Don't you see that buying gold inevitably turns honest, patriotic, devoted men like you, away from the cause which they ought to support, and which they think they do support, because they have made it for their interest not to support it? Don't you see it, my dear fellow?" "Be shure I do," said the honest man, with gravity of manner and a humility in keeping with the discovery he had made; "and I ax pardon of the war. Put de whole of dat in Seven-Thirties. My money goes mit my principles." Honest soul! Saddling to Suit the Route. While the Sixth New Hampshire regiment was stationed at Russellville, in southwestern Kentucky, the inhabitants of the surrounding country were frequently annoyed by the incursions of guerrilla bands from Tennessee. News coming in one morning that a band of these outlaws had plundered one of the neighboring villages, Lieutenant-Colonel P., the active Saddling to suit the Route Middleton it was discovered by the Major that he was too late to intercept the marauders, and he consequently ordered the horses unsaddled and fed. Now, the Major's hostler was a son of the Emerald Isle, entirely ignorant of everything pertaining to the equestrian art, and, coming in from half an hour's scout through the village, in a state closely bordering on intoxication, he put the Major's saddle on facing to the rear. When the horses were brought up for a fresh start, the Major, instantly discovering the mistake, demanded with a wondering scowl why the saddle was put on in that manner. "An' shure," said Pat, a little terrified, "an' shure, Major, an' I didn't know which way you was going!" An explosion followed-the Major was abundantly satisfied-and Pat escaped without further rebuke. Moderate Ideas of a Competency. While Mr. Lincoln was visiting New York city, some time previous to the assembling of the presidential Republican nominating convention at Chicago, he met in one of the business establishments in New York, an Illinois acquaintance of for mer years, to whom he said in his dry and good-natured way: "Well, B., how have you fared since you left Illinois?" "I have made," replied B., "one hundred thousand dollars and lost all; how is it with you, Mr. Lincoln ?" "Oh, very well; I have the cottage at Springfield, and about eight thousand dollars in money. If they and efficient commander, immediately dis- make me Vice-President with Seward, as patched a small detachment of the regi- some say they will, I hope I shall be able ment, commanded by Major Q., in pursuit to increase it to twenty thousand, and that of them. On arriving at the village of is as much as any man ought to want." |